I feel like I say this every month….but, I’m so proud of Roo. We went home to Wales over the weekend and I took Roo to do a fairly challenging 16km and he aced it.
Just to give an idea of the kind of hacking I like to do in winter. It’s more technical and slow, here are a few of my stats from the ride.
- Walk average speed: 4.6kph
- Trot average speed: 12kph
- Canter average speed: 18.3kph
- Walk time: 1hr 25mins
- Trot time: 38mins
- Canter time: 31s
- Elevation: 290m
- Gates: 15
For me winter is all about building skills so long slow work over challenging technical terrain is my favourite type of work. Roo really struggles with this kind of thing, he’s not quite strong or co-ordinated enough and his fitness isn’t quite there yet. But he never gives up! Some of the hills were long trot sections and not once did he ask to walk. By the end of the downhills he had really improved just in that one ride.
There’s something about hacking in the Welsh hills that gives me a peace no where else can. You don’t see a soul, just surrounded by views and open countryside. I love just pootling around with my horse, I think it really builds up our bond and there’s something so much more relaxing training on this sort of terrain compared to the easier faster training of the summer.
Beth Endurance 